Landmark class action disability lawsuit settles in U.S. District Court in Springfield

Loretta Rolland of Holden, Mass., center, smiles as she leaves U. S. Federal Court in Springfield Wednesday with her brother Alfred Rolland, left, of Springfield and her sister, Claire Harris, right, of Chicopee. Loretta is the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit first filed against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1998 seeking to move mentally and developmentally disabled patients from nursing homes to community based care facilities. Staff photo by Michael Gordon

SPRINGFIELD - Her supporters, which have grown since 1998 from a small number of family members to a legion of disability rights advocates, were there to support Loretta Rolland even if she could not physically applaud herself.

A courtroom filled with advocates, attorneys, state disability rights officials and workers, came to testify at and witness a hearing in U.S. District Court that signaled the dismissal of the Rolland class action suit on Wednesday. The landmark suit against the state was settled as public agencies made substantial progress in moving those with intellectual and developmental disabilities to community settings.

Thousands had languished in nursing homes for years, spending lonely hours in hallways and without clear treatment plans until the Center for Public Representation in Northampton brought a case against state on behalf of Rolland and five others looking to get into community settings. A class of more than 1,800 was born.

Rolland has advanced cerebral palsy that gripped more of her body as she grew older. She began using a wheelchair in her 20s. She lived with her mother until she was in her 50s and her mother died, then was transferred to a nursing home and deemed "medically complex."

Rolland required 24-hour care and it was the most routine placement for severely disabled people whose families could no longer care for them. Rolland has little mobility and can barely speak, but she knew she was miserable in a nursing home.

Rolland and her fellow plaintiffs sought to change that. They ultimately changed the entire landscape of a cumbersome, complicated medical and social service model that seemed immovable at first. The effort involved thousands of plaintiffs, resistant guardians, hundreds of nursing homes, hundreds of medical professionals and social workers, myriad state agencies - all suddenly entangled in litigation.

The broad goals of the lawsuit were twofold: first, to move plaintiffs out of nursing homes into community settings; and second, to provide "active treatment," or individualized care plans for those who could not immediately be moved. But, it required corralling scattered resources and building new resources and community placements from the ground up.

"When working to support people you can never stop learning," said Elin M. Howe, commissioner of the state Department of Developmental Services, said during the hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth P. Neiman.

Howe said many of the plaintiffs have been moved to highly specialized group homes with round-the-clock care and enjoy daily shopping trips, dinner outings and other activities for the first time in their lives. The plaintiffs have ranged from pediatric patients to a woman in her 90s, other speakers at the hearing said.

Rolland, 71, a Springfield native, volunteers at an animal shelter and has her own apartment at a group home in Holden.

"She goes out every day and does what she wants to do," said Lindsey Dezotell, program director at the "medical model" home where Rolland lives. "She's free."

Through somewhat labored speaking, Rolland said "she never wants to go back there again," referring to the nursing home.

Howe, plaintiffs' lawyer Cathy Costanzo and others who spoke at Wednesday's hearing marveled at how the case evolved from an incredibly litigious exchange 14 years ago to a feeling of camaraderie and celebration as Neiman dismissed the case.

Court monitor Lyn Rucker handed out awards and all credited Rolland with being a vanguard for disability rights. About 670 nursing home patients have been moved into community settings with another 30 in the process of doing so.

"I think they're going to name a planet after you," joked Neiman, who managed the case and spent days in the field visiting plaintiffs at institutional and community-based settings.

Prompting an avalanche of court activity, the case broke out into two settlements advocates call "Rolland 1" and "Rolland 2."

Larry Tummino, deputy commissioner of the Department of Developmental Services, said a revised settlement agreement was reached into 2007 because they realized there had not been as much advancement as all parties had hoped.

"We just weren't where we wanted to be," he said, adding that the second phase of the litigation placed more of an emphasis on community placements than "active care" in nursing homes. The initiative will yield nearly 700 moves from nursing homes to community settings by the end of the year, advocates said.

The dismissal of the lawsuit means the state will now manage the system autonomously, without the court's oversight.

All agreed Rolland's willingness to file the suit has set a new standard of care for the disabled that will transcend generations and stretch beyond state boundaries.

"It's an epic one. It's like Brown vs. the Board of Education in the disability world," said Tara Arthur, program director for Rehabilitation Resources Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Sturbridge that runs Rolland's group home and other specialized placements. Brown vs. the Board of Education helped end segregation in public schools.